TO GUEST ON THE TAVIS SMILEY SHOW ON PBS IN LATE NOVEMBER,AND WNYC’S SOUNDCHECK

2012 has been a banner year for BETTYE LaVETTE! Celebrating her 50th anniversary in the music business with the release of her latest CD, Thankful N’ Thoughtful and her unflinching autobiography, A Woman Like Me, Bettye has been receiving glowing accolades for both, as well as her live shows. Now, she’s decided to release five tracks previously unavailable on CD from the Thankful N’ Thoughtful sessions with producer Craig Street on November 23.

Titled, More Thankful, More Thoughtful, the EP features a stunning version of Julie’s Miller’s “Long Time,” as well as a funkified “Welcome to the Good Times,” by The Black Crowes, the emotional “Old,” from singer/songwriter Christine Santelli, “Save Some Time to Dream,” written by John Mellencamp and “Whole Lotta Lonely,” written by Jon Bon Jovi, Darrel R. Brown and Desmond Child. The EP will be available in limited quantities on Black Friday (11/23) only through independent music retailers across the country.

Bettye will also be stopping by WNYC’s “Soundcheck” for an interview later this month and can be seen on PBS’s Tavis Smiley Show the week of November 26. Meanwhile, Bettye will be continuing her 50th Anniversary tour with dates in Texas at the end of the month, before she heads to Europe for shows in France, England, Holland and Belgium.

Of her recent live show in Toronto, Toronto Life Magazine declared: “With a voice that can make her sound like she’s in the middle of either a breakdown or an orgasm, Bettye LaVette has been covering the wide area of soul for 50 years,” while Popmatters,com noted of her new album: “…there is no denying that LaVette has a hell of a voice. On Thankful N’ Thoughtful – as on her other work – it’s a massive, destructive, ragged thing. It can knock you over like a ton of gravel or break you down into a shivering heap. It’s the kind of voice that makes writers scramble over one another to talk about authenticity, the real blues, and the good old days.”